Trap for catching mice or rats.



PATENTED OCT. 20, 1903.

No. 74l ,935.

A SGHIGKERLING- TRAP FOR GATGHING MICE 0R RATS. APPLICATION FILED mu 2 1903 No. veneer).

NITED trn'rs latcntecl October 20, 1903.

ALFRED SOHICKERLING, OF JERSEY CITY, NE\V JERSEY.

TRAP FOR CATCHING MICE OR RATS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 741,935, dated October 20, 1903. r

Application filed July 2, 1903. Serial No. 164,016. (No model.)

T0 at 1071,0711. it may concern.-

Be it known thatI, ALFRED SCHIGKERLING,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident. of Jersey City,.in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Trap for Catching Mice or Rats, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a trap for catching mice and rats, and more particularly to an attachment which may be readily applied to vessels-such, for example, as milk, fruit, meat, and vegetable cans-which are commonly thrown awayand usually with a portion of the contents of the can adhering thereto or remaining therein as to afiord sufficient bait to attract the mouse or rat to enter the can.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side view of the trap complete, showing the attachment inserted in the wall of a can. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section in the plane of the line A A of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a view of the attachmentin perspective looking from the rear.

The attachment consists of a tubular casing 1, within whicha gate 2 is located and so arranged as to admit of theready passage of a mouse or rat in one direction through the tube, while preventing the return of the animal.

The device which I prefer to employ is a skeleton gate suspended from the wall of the tube and free to swing in a direction to open the way through the tube into the vesselto .which it is attached, while free to return inner wall of the tube before the gate reaches a position at right angles to the tube-that is, before it reaches a position which will admit of its being swung outwardly. The gate therefore rests normally in the oblique position shown in Fig. 3, and for purposes of greater efiectiveness I prefer to locate two of the fingers 6 on opposite sides of the vertical central longitudinal plane of the tube, so that there shall be a free space directly in front of the animal as it creeps along the natural path at the bottom of the tube.

rotary position of the tube 1 to cause the gate to hang in operative position within it when the can is standing upright I cut away the wall of the lower outer end of the tube, as shown at 9, and this feature also makes the entrance to the interior of the tube somewhat easier and more eifective in practice. I further provide an annular shoulder 10 around the periphery of the tube for limiting the distance which the tube may be inserted into the can.

In operation the attachment may be insorted in any can which happens to have been emptied of its contents at the time, and when it has served its purpose as a trap the attachment and can may be thrown into water to drown the animal or animals which may have been caught, the attachment then removed fiEfsE What I claim is 1 myinvention I have signed my name, in pres The combination with a can in which food enoe of two Witnesses, this 29th day of June, 10 is shipped, of a tube provided with means for I 1903.

cuttin it w int th can under ressure 5 and a gkefeto n gatghun g in the tnbgand free 1 ALFRED SCHIQKERLING to swing open in one direction only under WVitnesses: pressure and adapted to automatically close. FREDK. HAYNES,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as GEORGE BARRY, Jr. 

